The Citizen, 2001-09-19, Page 6TW2(cfriii-VVATAYstrff
Hiring not so dramatic as other boards says dir.
are in some other districts. At least, could commute a portion of their teacher training programs.
not to the same extent," Rachlis told pension package, the change Board chair Wendy Anderson
Special to The Citizen trustees during the board's first reg- inspired a greater number of teachers explained that she had attended an
Faced with a situation which ular meeting of the season, Tuesday. than was predicted to accept orientation session for new Avon
Education Director Lorne Rachlis Sept. 1I. early retirement packages, and left Maitland teachers, and was pleased
referred to as "not as dramatic" as Later in the meeting, the board with unanticipated expens- by the response when organizers
that in some other Ontario regions, Superintendent' of Business Janet es. asked how many of the employees
the Avon Maitland District School Baird-Jackson, while delivering the But Rachlis assured trustees that had completed their earlier educa-
Board hired 87 new teachers this board's financial statements up to this year's rate of new hiring is tion in Huron or Perth Counties.
autumn. Sixty of those were destined July 1, reiterated the difficulties roughly equal to that of the previous According to Anderson, a show of
for the board's 44 elementary imposed on the board by a spring- year. hands indicated almost half
schools and 27 went to work in one time, 2001, change to the province's Among those new hirings, he answered in the affirmative.
of 11 secondary schools. Education Act. added, about half had taught previ- And when it comes to administra-
"We're not experiencing the same Because of an alteration of the ously in other school boards, while tive staff, Rachlis said, there's a sim-
peaks in teacher retirements as they rules by which retiring teachers the rest were recruited straight out of ilar level of stability this year as that
among the teaching ranks.
"It's very manageable," the educa-
tion director said. "Vve are getting
renewal in the schools without los-
ing all our senior staff." Of 27 new
administrators hired, about a dozen
have worked in other boards previ-
ously, while the rest were taken from
within the board's teaching
ranks.
"I think that's an indication that
the board continues to be a good
place to work and Huron and Perth
Counties continue to be good places
to live," Rachlis commented.
By Stew Slater
Avon Maitland looks at home schooling numbers
nity which believes home-schooling of some schools, including Seaforth Smith questioned Gerth following
is the best option. Public School. his presentation, wondering why
According to a staff report deliv- Gerth's- report states that the Seaforth Public School might go
ered at a regular Tuesday, Sept. 11 province's education act provides for against the board-wide trend. Smith
board meeting by Education "a child (to be) excused from atten- said the number of home-schooled
Superintendent Bill Gerth, the num- dance at school if she/he is receiving children within the school's catch-
ber of known home-schooled chil- satisfactory instruction at home or ment area has gone from six to 14 in
dren within Avon Maitland territory elsewhere." The report notes, how- the past three years. •
dropped from 251 in 1999-2000 to ever, that the board'g regular prac- Gerth cited the presence of "two
216 in 2000-01. Central Huron tice, when officials become aware of particular families" with unusually
trustee Charles Smith, however, was a home-schooled child, is to have an large numbers of children, who have
quick to point out that the number of administrator from the school serv- chosen not to attend the Seaforth
home-schooled children has ing the area in which they live visit school.
increased within the catchment areas the home at least once per year. "But I don't believe there's any
Steady
While the judge checks out one of the animals, another contestant calms her own wooly friend.
The contestants were taking part in the annual school fair in Belgrave last Wednesday. (Vicky
Bremner photo)
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Officials of the Avon Maitland
District School Board are pointing to
the presence of unusually large fam-
ilies as one reason that, while over-
all numbers of home-schooled stu-
dents has decreased in the board's
territory, there are significant pock-
ets of honie-schooling in north and
central Huron County. Another fac-
tor cited, especially in Howick Twp.,
is a sizeable religious-based commu-
trend, that there's- any particular
instance of something going on at
the board which is causing people to
seek home-schooling, if that's what
you're wondering about," the super-
intendent cautioned.
According to Gerth's report, 199
elementary-level students within
Continued from page 1
chair Wendy Anderson, expressing
gratitude to Avon Maitland officials
for working with the union to secure
the return of such activities, which
were largely absent between
September, 2000 and June, 2001.
Also at. the meeting, trustees
approved the final step in the "inter-
im agreement" which paved the way
for the resumption of extracurricu-
lars.
The motion, which passed unani-
mously, altered the agreement
between the board and District 8
OSSTF, increasing the "average
aggregate class size" for secondary
school classes from 21 pupils in
2000-01 to 22 in 2001-02.
The vote was 'carry-over from an
Aug. 9 deal between the two parties,
which, in turn, was negotiated fol-
lowing a June 29 amendment to the
province's Education Act. Under the
legislative change, school boards
were given increased freedom in
how they calculated instructional
time, and were permitted to vary the
average class size in. secondary
schools.
Avon Maitland territory are home-
schooled. The elementary school
with the largest number of home-
schooled children within its catch-
ment area is Howick Central Public
School at RR1 Gorrie, with 26.
Seaforth Public School is next with
14, followed by two schools with 13
— Grey Central Public School in
Ethel and Huron Centennial Public
School at RR 1 Brucefield — and
two with 11 — East Wawanosh
Public School in Belgrave and
Tumberry Central Public School at
RR4, Wingham.
Among Avon Maitland secondary
schools, F.E. Madill in Wingham has
the most home-schooled children
within its catchment area, with five.
Altogether, 17 secondary-level stu-
dents Within the district are known to
be home-schooled.
"Although not specifically refer-
enced in the regulations, an expected
benefit will be the return to extracur-
ricular activities," noted a staff
report which was delivered prior to
the vote by trustees.
The Huron' Perth Catholic District
School Board, which has two partic-
ipating secondary schools in HPAC,
did not negotiate an interim agree-
ment with its teachers' union. As a
result, it joined various other boards
across the provinces as the subject of
some media speculation when class-
es began this September. Among
those was the London Catholic
District School Board, which
announced it would not play host to
extracurricular activities beeause of
its inability to secure such an interim
deal.
But even during last year's
province-wide extracurricular slow-
down, the effects were quite limited
in the Huron-Perth board. At
Stratford's St. Michael and Clinton's
St. Anne's high schools, therefore,
such activities are expected to be
fully in place in 2001-02, despite the
lack of an interim teachers' deal.
Chair expresses her gratitude
to officials for work with union
1 800 0-Canada. Talk to us.
Do you have questions about child safety,
jobs, parental benefits, passports or pensions?
Our information officers can help.
Find out about the hundreds of services available
from the Government of Canada.
Call 1 800 0-Canada during regular business hours
and a real person will answer your call.
Canada'
For more information on
government services:
canada.gc.ca
Service Canada
Access Centres
1 800 0-Canada
(1 800 622-6232)
TTY / TDD 1 800 465-7735